Hey, all! So, I've decided to repost my essay on Randy Stair here in the interest of sharing further edits I've made in recent days. Here's what I've written so far.

Original Post

Randy Stair: A Psycho-Linguistic Analysis

Introduction

In a quiet Pennsylvania town in June of 2017, three people working at a grocery store tragically met their fate at the hands of a fellow colleague armed with two Mossberg 500 pump-action shotguns – a fellow colleague by the name of Randy Robert Stair, aged twenty-four. On the surface, it would be easy for one to dismiss this incident as merely another case of workplace violence among perhaps hundreds that have happened since the infamous massacre at Columbine high school back in 1999. But this was different; this particular incident was the work of someone who had been experiencing years of loneliness and disconnection from reality. Not to mention, frequent episodes of suicidal and homicidal ideation, and gender dysphoria. Below is a discussion Randy’s general mental state since birth, as analyzed from the manner in which they wrote and spoke in their journal writings, and audio and video recordings, among other pieces of media they posted to the internet prior to their crime and eventual suicide. By no means does this discussion provide a concrete answer as to truly why Randy did what they did, or why any other individual would commit a similar atrocity; rather, the purpose of this is to provide conjecture and a rough framework on the motivations behind their actions, so as to help prevent future tragedies like this one.

Background

Early Years of Life and Online Activity

Randy Robert Stair was born on September 17th, 1992, in Dallas, Pennsylvania. In their childhood and throughout their life, they were a quiet individual with a penchant for the camera, having filmed many short films prior to their YouTube channel, Pioneers Productions. Upon the creation of this channel, they began making even more videos, particularly comedy skits, ranging from derivative series like “Fatass” (taken from Johnny Knoxville’s original series, “Jackass”) to more original concepts, such as “Mr. Wooden Alligator.” Perhaps their proudest moments over the course of their YouTube career were when they garnered the attention of two of the website’s most famous users during their time making comedic videos: “Makemebad35” and “Fred Figglehorn”, the former of which they collaborated with on at least one of their videos. On average, at the time of their death, Randy garnered 300-500 views per video (according to the June 2017 screenshot of the Pioneers Productions YouTube channel, taken by the Wayback Machine); resultant of this general obscurity were great feelings of frustration for Randy, and this became one of the main sources of their dissatisfaction with their life.

Later Years

After having spent much time making derivative comedy skit series with little success, Randy found themselves entering the world of video game livestreams; it was at this point where they would post comedic moments that happened during their sessions with such games as “Grand Theft Auto V” and “Call of Duty”. Again, these efforts were for naught due to low viewer counts, much to their growing frustration.

Subsequently, things then turned south for them when, in the beginning of 2012, an acquaintance of theirs by the name of Tom Lynch died in a car accident; while Randy claimed to not have known Tom intimately, they stated how it had deeply impacted them, and how his death served to remind them of the fragility of life itself. Not only was there this tragedy in their life, but they also described how they themselves became involved in a car accident a year later, with their brother also ending up in one ten days after that. In addition, their Mac desktop sustained severe water damage when their home experienced a flood, causing upwards of nearly $1000 dollars’ worth of damage to the computer. Sometime after this incident, another classmate of theirs by the name of Matt Murray died, and this, too, contributed to further stresses in their life.

Ember's Ghost Squad (EGS)

The aftermath of these events led to Randy rediscovering their fondness of the Butch Hartman Nickelodeon series, “Danny Phantom.” Particularly, their passion for this cartoon derived from their admiration for one of the show’s antagonists, Ember McLain, a villainous rockstar whose voice had hypnotic properties for those to listened to her. And it was from their obsession for this character that they came to the conclusion that they were transgender – a woman trapped inside a male body. These events culminated in the creation of Ember’s Ghost Squad, a multimedia series based on said Nickelodeon cartoon that served as a sort of radical organization in support of the villainess. As things progressed, Randy came to the conclusion that they were “sent” here on Earth, as per a “contract” they signed prior to their birth, and that they were here to accomplish a “mission,” the nature of which we now know.

Findings

Having provided a general outline of Randy’s life, there is now the matter of the findings from their handwritten journal entries, and audio and video recordings.

Verbosity and Linguistic Redundancies

Randy tended to be highly specific when expressing either hatred or love of their family or peers. Case in point, their first entry on their handwritten journal, on page four. Whilst discussing their hatred for their birth name, and their preference for another name they conceived, Andrew Blaze, they wrote, “‘Blaze’ is not a symbol for pot. I cannot STAND potheads. Please do the world a fucking favor and [REDACTED] slit your fucking wrists down the street and lacerate your pressure points” (Stair, 2017, pg. 4). Here, Randy is specific to the point of borderline redundancy, describing almost the entire process of suicide via exsanguination through severance of one’s wrist-veins when they could have just as easily mentioned either simple wrist severance or general exsanguination. This degree of specificity is also seen in their final message addressed to a close online friend of theirs who went by the username, “Nelly Whatsername.” In this message, they wrote,

“Nelly, you’ve been an amazing addition to my life over the years...You’re an amazing person...you really are...Your drawings and edits always cheered me up on my worst days (and even my best days). I felt like I could talk to you about anything. You were always understanding even when I could come off as a total douche bag. You were always there for me over the years, even though I don’t physically personally know you off of social media.” (Whatsername, 2019)

Even In this instance, they essentially repeated themselves, what with their point about how much they cared for Nelly, and how much their friendship meant to them. Notably, they tended to repeat such words as “amazing” and “always”. These findings indicate a sense of linguistic alienation from their peers – that is, Randy feels as though they are not nearly as understood as they would like to be, and so, to remedy that, they speak repetitively to consolidate their points and ensure an understanding. The final piece of evidence cementing this point can be found in a document that they enclosed in their digital set that they uploaded to Mediafire prior to their crime and subsequent suicide. In this document, when discussing how they planned their crime, they first wrote, “I documented the entire process on both video and audio recordings. These recordings are viewable in this digital set; it’s all in the ‘Andrew Blaze Suicide Tapes’ folder. Private journal entries dating back to November 2016 are also included (located in the ‘Andrew Blaze Private Journal’ folder)” (Stair, 2017). Here, they direct their readers to all the necessary folders they wanted them to visit to understand their planning process. However, they then proceed to effectively repeat themselves when they later wrote, “To get my thoughts out to the world I recorded audio logs throughout 2017; they’re all viewable on this page (located in the ‘Andrew Blaze Suicide Tapes’ folder)” (Stair, 2017). In this case, Randy repeated the full name of the suicide tapes folder, when they simply could have just referred to said folder as “the suicide tapes folder.” Even in the last two sentences of the document, Randy repeated this point yet again when they wrote, “That’s why I uploaded everything here…Save EVERYTING while you can (Journals, Suicide Tapes, EGS videos, etc). I literally documented the final months and days of my life, and it deserves to be seen…Thanks everyone…I’ll see some of you’s soon...” (Stair, 2017). And lastly, when discussing their initial incompetence at deception, they wrote, “I was good at hiding it. I used to be a terrible liar as a kid/teenager (meaning that I wasn’t good at it)” (Stair, 2017). Here, they could have just ended their sentence with the fact of their initial incompetence, and yet, they nevertheless added the latter parenthetical part to make things clearer for the reader. Once again, this clearly points to the fact that Randy does not feel understood by their family or peers, hence, their redundant over-explanation of themselves.

Another interesting aspect of Randy’s language was their verbosity; this can be seen with their initial quote about their opinion on those who use cannabis, as well as in another instance in one of their audio recordings. Specifically, as The WCT noted in his documentary, “EGS: The Randy Stair Story”, Randy was recorded as saying how, “People who beg for subscriptions, beg for Patreon, beg for money, should be fucking crucified and shot and hanged by their fucking throats” (“EGS: The Randy Stair Story - Episode 8”, 2018, 53:07). Not to mention, in their final video they posted – an animation titled, “The Westborough High Massacre (EGS)/Goodbye”, one character (voiced by Laura Faverty) could be heard saying, “[T]ie you to a chair, incapacitate your fucking parents, slit your wrists across the. . . pierce your cold-hearted eyeballs with sewing pins, and watch the blood drain ounce by ounce out of your toxic, attention- whoring veins” (“Westborough High Massacre”, 2017, 07:23), as per a script they wrote. And so, not only would Randy be redundant in their speech, but also rather verbose; over-describing things whenever they expressed a desire to do harm onto those they perceived as having wronged them. Again, this all ties in with their feelings of being misunderstood by everyone around them.

Uncertainty with Identity

Another thing to point out with Randy’s written and spoken language is how unsure they were of themselves with their own identity. It is clear throughout their journal how similar it is to the journal writings of the late Eric Harris, one of the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine high school massacre. Not only is there the high degree of verbosity in both journals, but there is also the sense that both individuals perceived themselves to be above everyone else. For example, in his journal entry on April 10th, 1998, Eric wrote,

“I hate the fucking world, to many god damn fuckers it in. to many thoughts about societies all wrapped up together in this place called AMERICA. everyone has their own god damn opinions on every damn thing and you may be saying ‘well what makes you so different?’. because I have something only me and V¹ have, SELF AWARENESS, Call it exortenstiolism or whatever the fuck u want.” (Harris, 1998)

A similar idea can be seen with Randy’s entries and such, where they frequently expressed their hatred of the world, as well as claimed to know the truth about how the world works, just as Eric did above. In one of their audio suicide tapes recorded in March 26th, 2017, Randy described what they claimed to be the meaning of life. Specifically, what they concluded was how life in and of itself is predetermined, as per a contract individuals agree to prior to being born. Prior to birth, everyone exists as merely a soul, and after death, everyone returns to the afterlife as a soul. Moreover, while Randy conceded that they were male in terms of their biological sex, they asserted that, spiritually, they were a female, and that anyone could have a soul whose sex is entirely different from the sex of their physical body. They also asserted that they, indeed, were part of “an army of ghosts” (i.e., Ember’s Ghost Squad) (“Andrew Blaze ST - Log 2 - The Meaning of Life/College Years”, 2017). However, this only goes to show that they are merely (on an unconscious level, at least) mirroring those of the fantasies of Eric, what with both seeing themselves as above their family and peers. This can also be seen when first looking at another journal entry written by Eric, dated November 17th, 1998; in this journal entry, as he described his sexual fantasies, he wrote,

“I want to tear a throat out with my own teeth like a pop can. I want to gut someone with my hand, to tear a head off and rip out the heart and lungs from the neck, to stab someone in the gut, shove it up to the heart, and yank the fucking blade out of their rib cage! I want to grab some weak little freshman and just tear them apart like a fucking wolf. show them who is god. strangle them, squish their head, bite their temples into the skull, rip off their jaw. rip off their colar bones, break their arms in half and twist them around, the lovely sounds of bones cracking and flesh ripping, ahh... so much to do and so little chances” (Harris, 1998).

Similarly, in a journal entry written on January 3rd, 2017, when regarding a car accident that they endured, Randy wrote, “He fucking crashed into my fucking car you fucking idiot! He committed a fucking felony . . . [REDACTED]², I’m going to pull your fucking tongue out through your worthless pathetic face and watch you choke on your own blood and bodily fluids” (Stair, 2017, pg. 15). In both these cases, Randy imitates Eric Harris and the detailed fashion in which he describes his homicidal fantasies. Again, this is all to lean on someone for that sense of uniqueness among the masses while still not taking responsibility for their actions. Randy “blames” their actions, so to speak, on Eric Harris; that it was Eric’s fault for giving them the inspiration to go on their own shooting spree.

And last, but not least, there is the aforementioned online content Randy posted throughout their entire career as an online content creator – they were derivative, with only a minute degree of originality; they copied the works of Fred Figglehorn, they copied the works of Butch Hartman, and they copied the works of James Rolfe (i.e., his “You Know What’s Bullshit?” series), among others. Indeed, it is almost certain that Randy had no real sense of identity as an individual, as for them, to do so would be to take responsibility for themselves, something they made very clear that they were strongly unwilling to do. As they wrote in the aforementioned document they included in their digital set, “As my teenage years began to draw to a close, the darkness of the world constantly sucked me in. Everything was suddenly all about money and getting a career. It drove me to the edge, and it was a long drop” (Stair, 2017). Here, Randy does indeed express a fundamental fear about adulthood, but this is chiefly due to the fact that they would then be expected to get a career, and care about money – particularly when it came to handling their own money. They dreaded the day they would need to handle their own finances, and again, this is also seen when they mentioned the upwards of nearly $1000 dollars’ worth of damage to their desktop that they needed to repair. On the other hand, however, they did work at the “Weis Market” grocery store that their father also worked at, but even then, they likely acquired this job via familial connections rather than merit alone, or in addition to. This point about their hesitance to mature into adulthood is further evidenced when they later wrote in the document, “It’s my destiny to die young. Eternally/spiritually I’m like a 16-19 year old; I never grow up” (Stair, 2017). In their various suicide tapes, they stated how they never saw themselves as “dying old.” However, again, this has less to do with age in and of itself, and more to do with self-sufficiency. They felt that their ideas alone (even if derivative most of the time) should net them profit, admiration from the masses, voice actors to voice their scripts, animators, etc. And this all ties in with a fundamental sense of entitlement and fear of adulthood. Adding on to these feelings was also doubt of their own abilities, and so, this derivative nature came about to reduce risk, social judgement, and required effort.

On Fate and Destiny

Other recurring themes in Randy’s writings and recordings are their ideas of “fate” and “destiny.” Case in point, in a journal entry dated January 24th, 2017, when discussing the idea of selling one’s soul, they wrote, “I virtually sold my soul to Ember in 2013. Who says only the devil can make a bargain? It’s fate. It’s destiny. It’s meant to be” (Stair, 2017, pg. 20). When considering that their homicidal fantasies stemmed from their obsession with the cartoon villainess, it is clear that they used their obsessions with this cartoon character and the concepts of “fate” and “destiny” to excuse their actions. This is also evidenced in the last sentence of the first paragraph of the aforementioned document Randy enclosed in their digital set; specifically, in regards to their planned suicide, they wrote, “There is nothing that any of you could have done to prevent this from happening; it was my destiny, and sometimes destiny is a bitch” (Stair, 2017). Again, this is all to excuse themselves of their actions and absolve themselves of all guilt for their fantasies. As a matter of fact, it can conceivably be said that the entire “Danny Phantom” Ember universe they created was all a means to excuse themselves for their crimes and absolve themselves of their guilt. They were well-aware of how fundamentally repugnant their fantasies were, and therefore created this universe so as to feel less guilty of them and exercise some form of control over human life. They refused to accept the fact that failure can be a result of one’s own efforts and instead blamed the people around them and life itself for their shortcomings. And so, in response, they created this “Ember” universe to feel like a demigod of sorts and allow themselves to kill anyone they wanted to feel powerful before chalking it all up to “fate” and “destiny”.

Desire to be Noticed

One of the last two things to note about Randy was their frequent mentioning of how people never noticed their activities, particularly when those activities pertained either to their female identity or their plans regarding their crime or subsequent suicide. For instance, on the thirty-eighth page of their journal, they wrote, “My mom could get a gun ‘tomorrow’ and come home to find me dead the following day and would be 100% shocked that I committed suicide; guarantee it, 100%. How she hasn’t questioned me or seen the signs is beyond me” (Stair, 2017, pg. 38). Time and time again, Randy asserts that help would not have prevented them from doing what they did, that it was all destined to happen. And yet, they so frequently mention their family’s ignorance of their activities that it becomes hard to ignore the fact that, in actuality, they did indeed want help, but were simply too afraid to directly ask for it, as they should have. Likewise, in their video addressed to their parents, they described the routines they kept up to maintain at least a somewhat effeminate appearance, shaving their body every three days with a pink razor that they initially kept hidden until they eventually left it in plain sight (Stair, 2017, 25:00)³. It was at this point in the video where they also expressed surprise that none of their family members ever noticed this. Again, this is yet another clear indication that, deep down, they wanted help, but were too afraid to simply ask for it directly.

Now, the final thing about Randy to take note of was the general symbolism behind their choice of character from which they drew inspiration – Ember McLain – a cartoon villainous characterized as a siren, with a hypnotic voice to keep her victims at attention to her forever. Although this may largely be more or less conjecture, it is needless to say that Randy found themselves effectively feeling like a ghost, what with their activities going unnoticed. And so, much like Ember, they craved to captivate the attention of anyone they could so as to lose this perpetual, involuntary invisibility.

Concluding Thoughts

On Randy

Needless to say, Randy Robert Stair was a deeply troubled individual. Their struggle with their gender identity, their lack of originality as an online content creator, their unique verbosity and borderline redundancy in their writing and speaking style, and their tendency to lean on others for a sense of identity all point to a young individual who was lost and scared since the moment of their conception. However, as stated back in the introduction, this, by no means, provides a concrete profile into the psychological states of those who engage in mass homicide. Rather, the fundamental point of this discussion is to provide conjecture as to why this tragedy happened. And to perhaps at least provide some degree of assistance in preventing future ones.

Furthermore, while some sympathy may be held for Randy, at the end of the day, they chose to do what they did, rather than seek help, as they should have. They refused to mature and accept responsibility, and they had an outright disgust for human life, choosing instead to live out their warped perception of reality.

Possible Future Solutions

Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic back in early 2020, things have been more uncertain than ever before in our current century. Mass shootings continue to be a recurring topic in the news, the economy still struggles to provide for those in need, and there has indeed been quite a psychological toll for many Americans trapped in their homes during these trying times. All in all, more Americans are feeling lonelier and less in control than ever before. And with a faulty mental health system, it appears things will only get worse. Not to mention, with various internet groups celebrating the stories of numerous mass murderers over the years (similar to the sensationalist news coverage serial killers found themselves the subject of during the 1970s-1990s), this only gives further motivation for those frustrated adolescents and young adults who are thirsty for their fifteen minutes of fame.

With all this in mind, this begs the question – what solutions are there to prevent future tragedies similar to the Randy Stair shooting? Firstly, it is important to note the abundance of materials made available by these mass murderers over the years – the basement tapes and the journals from the perpetrators of Columbine, the biographical manifesto written by the perpetrator of the 2014 shooting at Isla Vista, as well as the one by the perpetrator of the shooting at Virginia Tech, among numerous others. All these materials contain much more than a description of the motivations behind these tragedies. They contain an entire psychological profile upon careful analysis of the writing and speaking style employed by these individuals. One need not look any further than the results of the Unabomber case to see how far analysis of writing styles can go with crime prevention.

All in all, the fundamental point here is this – only through unity between families and communities at large can further tragedies be prevented, especially in light of recent pushes to return to normalcy in the post-coronavirus era. And suffice to say, the bravery it takes to ask for help simply is not celebrated enough.

References

Harris, Eric (1998). Eric Harris' Journal. http://www.acolumbinesite.com/eric/writing/journal/journal.php.

Stair, Randy (2017). "Please Read". https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/Stair_Please_Read.pdf.

Stair, Randy (2017). Randy Stair's Journal. https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/stair_journal.pdf.

Stair, Randy (2017). "The Westborough High Massacre (EGS) / Goodbye". https://archive.org/details/TheWestboroughHighMassacreegsGoodbye.

Stair, Randy (2017). "Andrew Blaze ST - Log 2 - The Meaning of Life/College Years". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyF7Af6j1U.⁴

Stair, Randy (2017). "[Andrew Blaze Suicide Tapes #Video Versions]. 10 Parents (Goodbye) (01) - June 01, 2017". https://archive.org/details/EGSPioneersProductionsDigitalSet/[Andrew Blaze Suicide Tapes#Video Versions]10 Parents (Goodbye) (01) - June 01, 2017.mov (01) - June 01, 2017.mov).

The WCT (2018). "EGS: The Randy Stair Story - Episode 8". https://newtube.app/user/The_WCT/LY44H1W.

Whatsername, Nelly. (2019). The Note. https://www.quotev.com/story/10481490/The-Note.

Footnotes

[1] “V” refers to Vodka, a nickname Dylan Klebold went by. Dylan Klebold was the second perpetrator of the 1999 Columbine high massacre.

[2] The name of the individual here has been redacted.

[3] This video was uploaded as part of the Digital Set uploaded to the Internet Archive. The set itself was uploaded as a single video. With that said, the aforementioned video starts at timestamp 01:02:13.

[4] This YouTube upload is courtesy of Embers Ghost Squad Reuploads. This video may or may not be taken down eventually, so keep this in mind.